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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26332273">Forced Reckoning</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anijade/pseuds/Anijade'>Anijade</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Good Girls (TV), Rosewood (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 13:22:53</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>13,963</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26332273</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anijade/pseuds/Anijade</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>OK here it is the Rosewood/GG crossover no one wanted. Quarantine is starting to get to me what can I say.  Beth and Rio have a  meeting in Canada and have to be quarantined there in advance. What could go wrong?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Beaumont Rosewood/Annalise Villa, Beth Boland/Rio</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>99</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Forced Reckoning</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Update on War is I'm working on the final chapter but I'm holding it back because I'm also working on the first chapter of Kingdom Come and I'm a continuity freak. It will be out soon along with the next chapter of King of the World</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were toxic, to each other and those around them. She knew that. It was what was running through Beth’s mind; as they drove out of Detroit, heading north. She took time to look out of the corner of her eye, to watch Rio driving, focused on the road. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. They had sniped at each other, ever since deciding they needed to take this trip, and meet with contacts face to face. </p>
<p>Why in the middle of a pandemic, was it the best time to leave the kids and drive into Canada; was beyond her, and she had told him that. As it was, since kicking Dean out, and getting Boland Bubbles in the black; she was exhausted. The kids being out of school since March, had been less than fun. She had wrangled that too, creating a bubble class with Sarah, Henry, Ben, her four and Marcus.</p>
<p>When Rio had found out about their bubble class, he had pushed hard to get Marcus included. He finally played dirty. Using Marcus’ friendship with Jane, to move the process ahead, so to speak. It had worked out well in the end, and all of them had done well. They had even started planning the curriculum for the next school year, knowing it would be easier to keep all the kids on track together.</p>
<p>Now they were driving to Canada. They would have to be quarantined for two weeks, before they could meet with their contacts.  She wasn’t looking forward to being trapped in a house with him. Someone she had tried to kill and who might want to kill her.</p>
<p>Rio observed Elizabeth as she sulked in the passenger seat.  He had to admit, this trip was less than ideal with the pandemic and everything going on. Still, business never stopped. They had deadlines to meet and customers to keep happy.</p>
<p>Thankfully, with everyone being trapped at home, sales of spas had picked up. Their cover of going to the International Pool and Spa Expo in Toronto worked. With the Canadian border closed, they had to agree to being quarantined two weeks before the expo. After being in protective custody for months, the idea of being trapped in a hotel room for that long, made Rio’s skin crawl. He had arranged an airbnb on the lake. They’d both have enough room to possibly not kill each other.</p>
<p>The drive hadn’t started out well. Since he picked her up, he had to admit he had goaded her into snapping at him. Setting the tone for the rest of the drive. Elizabeth was just so easy to rile up. Since the first day in her kitchen, there was just something about her that made him want to get a reaction out of her. It was stupid, letting her get that close. Making him feel things that did nothing but blur what should be a business relationship.</p>
<p>An hour and a half of silence  started to make him antsy, so he turned to Elizabeth. “Wanna play twenty questions?”</p>
<p>Beth gave him a filthy look as she shrugged. <br/>“Sure, why not, who’s going first?”</p>
<p>“Me.”</p>
<p>“Fine, what do you want to know?”</p>
<p>“Ok, why’d you cancel this hit on me?”</p>
<p>Beth flushed and turned her head to look out of the window. Of course he would ask that.</p>
<p>“I realized I didn’t want you dead?”</p>
<p>“Is that a question? You ain’t sure?”</p>
<p>Sighing, Beth shrugged. “No, I’m sure. I just didn’t think there was any way out, and then realized, I didn’t want out. I didn’t want you out of my life. So, I called it off. Tried to be open with  you.”</p>
<p>Rio nodded and tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “Your turn.”</p>
<p>“Why didn’t you kill me after I lost the baby?”</p>
<p>Rolling his neck Rio tightened his jaw. “Maybe, I didn’t want you dead?”</p>
<p>“Not sure?” Beth asked with a snicker.</p>
<p>He looked over at her holding her gaze seriously. “I don’t want you dead, Mama. I wanted you to deal with your shit. Now, you’re finally doin’ that.”</p>
<p>It became very apparent that it had been enough truth for a while. They both fell into silence, until the border.</p>
<p>As expected, they were taken aside and had to be interviewed. Rio had the papers showing their agreement to quarantine, and the invitation to the expo. Another two hours and they were pulling up to a very sleek, yet quaint duplex. Beth had expected him to have another trendy loft overlooking the city. This was a quieter neighborhood, and she had seen signs showing there was a beach nearby. At least, if they were quarantining, they could get out and enjoy fresh air.</p>
<p>“This is...nice.”</p>
<p>“You sound surprised.” </p>
<p>“Doesn’t seem like your style, you like a more modern aesthetic, this is homey.”</p>
<p>“We’re gonna be trapped here for two weeks, might as well have enough room to not kill each other. There is precedent for that.”</p>
<p>Beth rolled her eyes at him, as she grabbed her bag. Hating that he had a point, she took care to let him have the bigger room. She took the time to unpack, partially to avoid Rio downstairs.</p>
<p>Finally, she decided to suck it up and head downstairs. Finding Rio in the kitchen, she stood there awkwardly, before deciding to check out the fridge. She was surprised to find it fully stocked, so she reached in and pulled out a pitcher of water.</p>
<p>“Want some?”</p>
<p>Rio gave her a lazy blink before he shrugged. “I’d like somethin’ stronger, if you know what I mean.”</p>
<p>Beth had found glasses and poured them each one, sliding the glass over to him. “Maybe we can get booze delivered?”</p>
<p>“Nah, I know there’s some around here somewhere. I’ll reimburse them later.”</p>
<p>Eventually, Rio managed to scrounge up a couple bottles of wine, some bourbon, and Tequila. Beth had laughed at his persistence. </p>
<p>After ordering some pizza, they had settled in the living room with light music playing. </p>
<p>“You up to startin’ our game again?”</p>
<p>Beth was confused for a minute, as her mind raced through the various games they had played, on or with each other. Rio laughed at the emotions that ran over her face.</p>
<p>“It ain’t complicated Ma, we were playin’ twenty questions back in the car. You wanna start back up now that we’re more chill?”</p>
<p>Huffing, Beth shrugged, she was on her second glass of  bourbon . “Sure why not, whose question is it?</p>
<p>“Yours.”</p>
<p>“Right, right. So what made you finally ditch the carman?”</p>
<p>She should have figured Dean would come up pretty quickly.”You mean, other than bankrupting us, cheating on me for years, and being an all around asshole? Oddly enough, him telling me that he found other women more attractive than me, and how he fantasized about their smaller breasts, was the final straw. Why be together if we’re not what the other wants?”</p>
<p>“Yeah? So, what do you want Mama?”</p>
<p>“Ah ah, it’s my question now. Why did you want Marcus in our school bubble so bad?”</p>
<p>Rio rolled his eyes, of course that would be her question. “He likes your kids. If everythin’ was goin’ to be fucked up, wanted him to have somethin’ normal. Your suburban mama vibe is soothin’ for kids. Rhea was pissed, you know, but she got over it.”</p>
<p>Beth nodded, she and Rhea were still civil with each other, but also frosty. She got it, she really did. But, it was hard, seeing a former friend and know, it was your fault everything got fucked up.</p>
<p>“I’m glad, the kids love having him around. I think he and Jane are going to be forever joined at the hip.”</p>
<p>“Just like us then.”</p>
<p>Remembering how he had made her debt so high, she wasn’t ever going to be able to leave, made Beth roll her eyes. “Something like that.” she took a sip of her drink. “Your turn.”</p>
<p>“I’m still askin’,what do you want?”</p>
<p>Beth threw her head back and groaned. “I have no clue. Used to want to be a good person, and we’ve clearly established I’m not that. I want my kids to be happy, I want to keep a roof over their heads. “</p>
<p>“Yeah, but what’s gonna make you happy?”</p>
<p>“I’m still figuring it out. By getting rid of what’s not working.”</p>
<p>Rio nodded, and sat back. “Your turn.”</p>
<p>She debated on how real they wanted to be, and she could see Rio studying her face. “Just ask darlin’, you can’t piss me off anymore than you already have.”</p>
<p>Beth still chewed her cheek, taking another sip, to avoid talking. Sighing, she looked at him, with a tightness in her face.</p>
<p>“What did you think, when I actually pulled the trigger?”</p>
<p>Rio’s jaw tightened, and Beth could swear she heard it click.</p>
<p>“Surprised the fuck out of me. I figured if you couldn’t shoot Turner, who’d been a pain in your ass for this long, you wouldn’t shoot me.” He told her woodenly, as he stared out of the window.</p>
<p>“I didn’t want to shoot you. I had never seen you like that, and having been grabbed with hood over my head. Nothing seemed real. Even after Turner told me to run, I wasn’t sure it was real.”</p>
<p>He didn't say anything, just stared out the front window, watching people passing by. Figuring they were done for the night, Beth collected their dishes and walked them to the kitchen. Taking care to rinse them off, before putting them in the dishwasher. </p>
<p>Beth headed downstairs, to where she had seen a piano when they had arrived. She hadn’t touched one in years, and knew that she probably remembered very little of her technique. Sitting down at the piano, she found the scales came back pretty quickly. But, she struggled through Moonlight Sonata. </p>
<p>On the floor above, Rio heard Elizabeth at the piano. The music didn’t sound bad, but it was hesitant, which wasn’t like the Elizabeth he knew. She never hesitated, just barreled in without thinking. Hearing her pick out a song was like seeing a part of her no one saw, he guessed. </p>
<p>He debated for nearly twenty minutes, before getting up and going downstairs. Elizabeth had found an easier piece from memory, Fur Elise.  Watching her from the stairs, he saw a relaxation come over her that he’d never seen. The music flowed through her, and as she played with her eyes closed.  They still needed to talk, but some space would hopefully lead to calmer storms. Heading back upstairs, he took to his room.</p>
<p>The sound of the shower turning on upstairs, brought Beth out of the music and her thoughts. Rio had the right idea though. A shower and sleep would help. She made sure the doors were locked, and headed up to her room to do the same.</p>
<p>Morning arrived soon enough. Beth blinked as sunlight hit her face. She glanced at her watch, and was amazed to see it was almost ten am. The lack of noise was unusual and her ears searched out the sounds of kids playing outside, but inside it was a peaceful silence. She got up stretching before finally getting up. It was odd not to have kids screaming for her. Beth couldn’t remember the last time she had woken organically.</p>
<p>Pulling on a robe, Beth headed down to the kitchen. To her surprise, she found Rio, shirtless, in the kitchen pulling out breakfast items.</p>
<p>“How you take your eggs, Mama?”</p>
<p>Beth blinked, trying to process the question with her sleepy brain. “Ummm, poached, but I’ll eat them any way.”</p>
<p>“You make the hollandaise, and I’ll poach the eggs.”</p>
<p>Without even thinking about it, Beth went to the fridge and started pulling out the ingredients for the sauce. They worked in comfortable silence, once Beth had had her first cup of coffee.</p>
<p>By the time they sat down to eat she figured they had decided to forget about last night and she was ok with that.</p>
<p>“It’s your question, Darlin’.”</p>
<p>Blinking in surprise, Beth looked at him. “We’re still doing this?</p>
<p>“Yeah, why not? Could be cathartic or somethin’.”</p>
<p>“Or, we could end up fighting while stuck in a house together, for the next two weeks.”</p>
<p>Rio grinned, as he ate a piece of crispy pancetta.  “Nah Ma, it’s fun learnin’ all kinds of things.”</p>
<p>Beth rolled her eyes, as she tried to think of a question for him. “Why did you give me the gun? “</p>
<p>He had known the shooting questions would still come up,but he had hoped they wouldn’t dive back into it so fast.</p>
<p>“You weren’t supposed to be worked up. You looked upset. But, I figured you’d pull yourself together. Little did I know..”</p>
<p>“I think that went for both of us.” Beth agreed.</p>
<p>“My turn, why did you shoot? You’ve said you didn’t want to.”</p>
<p>Beth looked at him like he had lost his mind. “You scared me! You had never scared me until that night. Sure, you pissed me off, poked open wounds, hurt my feelings even. But, I never thought you would physically hurt me, until that night.” She told him with a sigh.</p>
<p>She regretted her question, the minute she asked it, it had sucked the easy going morning right out the window. Rio could tell she wasn’t ready to talk about that night, anymore than he wanted to talk about it, so he took the easy way out.</p>
<p>“Heard you on the piano last night, you’re still pretty good. Any of your kids play?”</p>
<p>She gave him a grateful look, for steering the questions away from that horrible night, then she shook her head.</p>
<p>“Dean didn’t see a point to it,really said it wasn’t a useful hobby, yet football was.” Beth told him, as she rolled her eyes. “I think now that we’re separated…Emma has expressed interest in music. I’m hoping to introduce her to it.”</p>
<p>“That’s good, kids need to find what fits them, not what fits their parents.”</p>
<p>Beth shrugged as she thought about what she might want to ask him.</p>
<p>“How did you meet Rhea?”</p>
<p>Rio looked at her through the corner of his eye, but he couldn’t pick up any guile in her face.</p>
<p>“We met as kids, from the same neighborhood, hooked up after high school, nothin’ serious or anythin’. She went to school, stayed straight. Got me out of a bad spot one night, after a drop went wrong, an’ she stitched me up. One thing led to another, an’ next thing I know, Marcus is on his way. We tried to see if we could make it work, but we’ll never be on the same page on anything, but Marcus.”</p>
<p>Beth nodded, sounds about right, she and Dean were working to get to the same place. “That’s good, he’s delightful. So you’re both doing a great job with him.”</p>
<p>“An’ you? You gonna keep the Boland name, or what?”</p>
<p>Blinking in surprise, Beth shook her head. “No, I’ve already taken steps to change it back to Marks. My kids are the only thing I want from the Bolands. Dean is finally starting to see how hard it is to wrangle four kids. I expect he’ll soon start skipping his weeks, and stop calling.”</p>
<p>He wasn’t going to say so, but he agreed with her assessment of her ex, the man wasn’t trustworthy.</p>
<p>“They’ll be fine they got you. If those kids ever knew what you’ve done to keep ‘em safe, they’d never question your love.”</p>
<p>Beth flushed at his praise. “I’m glad you think so, I worry about it daily.”</p>
<p>“Your kids should know, you’re a boss bitch”</p>
<p>“Not sure how to make that happen. They’re so used to my old image. I don’t want to scare them, but I can’t be that person anymore.” she confessed.</p>
<p>“Nah, they need to see the real you, an’ they’ll adjust. A wake up call won’t hurt them, an’ maybe teach them what strength and love really look like.”</p>
<p>Beth felt heat infuse her at his words, and then noticed she was still in her robe.</p>
<p>“Oh my god, I need to get dressed!”</p>
<p>Rio gave her a wolfish grin as he reached over and lightly caressed the curve of her breast. “Yeah, was hopin’ you’d forget about that. It’s not like we got anywhere to be.” </p>
<p>Swatting at him, Beth shook her head. While yes, it was true they couldn’t go anywhere, it was probably best that neither of them should run around half naked.</p>
<p>“I’m going to clean up and get dressed. Since we can’t leave the house, I might check out Canadian Netflix in the living room, if you want to join me,”</p>
<p>She made short work of the dishes, while Rio watched her. He particularly appreciated that her robe was really too short, for all the bending and stretching she was doing.  Before Elizabeth could turn and see his face, Rio left the kitchen and went to sit out in the back courtyard. It was the only bit of fresh air they were going to have. The kitchen stimulation had left him with energy that had to be burned off.</p>
<p>After taking a shower and getting dressed, Beth took some deep breaths. It was both thrilling and annoying, that whatever was between them hadn’t faded. There was always that, undercurrent of desire. A sound caught her attention, and she went to the window to see. To her surprise, she watched as Rio started doing pushups on the ground. It was pretty impressive, as he warmed up, the sun making his skin glow. </p>
<p>From there, he moved on to jumping jacks, which was mesmerizing, until he started shadowboxing. It was clear to her that he had extensive experience with boxing. Something that was usually hidden by all of those long sleeve shirts, he loved so much</p>
<p>Even though she knew he couldn’t hear her, Rio looked up and saw her looking, causing him to grin and wave at her, before going back to his work out. Beth let out a frustrated growl, and let the curtain drop. </p>
<p>By the time Rio came back into the house, he found Elizabeth ensconced on the couch. She was reading a book, while House Hunters played in the background. </p>
<p>“You wachin’ tv or readin’, Mama?”</p>
<p>“Both, kinda?” Beth told him, without looking up from her book. She hadn’t really been reading, but staring at the page had been a good cleansing pallet. Rio settled in next to her.  He was still shirtless, but had changed into a fresh pair of basketball shorts.</p>
<p>“You like shows like this? Ain’t it a bit, suburban for you?”</p>
<p>Sighing, Beth’s eye flickered to the tv screen and then back to the book. There was no way she could sit there and look at him half naked right now.</p>
<p>“Well, I thought I was some suburban bitch?” she teased</p>
<p>“Nah, you’re somebody now, so why do you watch this shit?”</p>
<p>Beth rolled her eyes and snorted lightly. “Honestly, with that show, I like yelling at the couples, telling them to stop being stupid. They fuss over paint colors and stuff like that. Like, it would take more than a day and a can of paint to fix it.”</p>
<p>“For you maybe. Baby, you got a drive that most people dream of. People plan, you do. That’s why you’re a boss.”</p>
<p>She didn’t understand why praise from Rio always got to her, made her feel important.</p>
<p>“You gonna look at me, or is it easier spyin’ through the window?”</p>
<p>His taunt forced her to look him in the eye, and glared at him, seeing how he was pleased with himself. </p>
<p>“I wasn’t spying. I heard a noise, and looked outside. Nothing sordid.”</p>
<p>“You kept lookin’ though.”</p>
<p>“So? Something wrong with that?” Beth asked, letting her eyes go round and innocent.</p>
<p>“Nah Mami, you don’t get to use those Disney Princess eyes on me, after you been oglin’ me.”</p>
<p>“You knew I was watching, you liked showing off!”</p>
<p>Rio sniffed, and turned his attention back to the tv. Smirking, Beth put down her book and started watching the show, also. Soon, they were both yelling at the house hunters, about how stupid they were and betting with each other which house they would pick. It killed a couple of hours, until Rio's stomach gave a loud rumble, and he looked over at the clock on the wall.</p>
<p>“Maybe, maybe not, we gotta eat. Let’s go see what’s left in the fridge. Don’t want to do anymore take out, if we can avoid it for a day or two.”</p>
<p>Nodding, Beth let him pull her from the couch and see what they could make in the kitchen. After looking in the fridge, she turned to him. "We could make nicoise salad.” Her eyes roamed his face, trying to gauge his interest. “There’s tuna steaks, not canned.” She added.</p>
<p>“Yeah, we can do that. There’s a grill out back,we could cook out, and get some fresh air.”</p>
<p>“That sounds great.” She pulled out the package of tuna and handed it to him. “You’re on grill duty.”</p>
<p>“An’ here I thought you were all about equal rights, handin’ me the man’s job.”</p>
<p>Beth wrinkled her nose. “You want to make the veggies and dressing then? I’m happy to switch.”</p>
<p>Rio laughed and shook his head, before going out to the back shed, to look for charcoal. By the time he came back, she could smell the scent of it burning.</p>
<p>She was roasting potatoes and green beans for the salad, and had vinaigrette whipped up.</p>
<p>“We just have to wait for things to cook, and it’s too early to start drinking.”</p>
<p>“S’not like we have to be anywhere. We still have thirteen more days.”</p>
<p>And if that wasn’t a sobering thought. </p>
<p>“Alright, then I’m opening up some wine.”</p>
<p>“Thought you didn’t like a crisp chardonnay.”</p>
<p>“It's not my first choice for a night cap, but it goes well with the lunch we’re going to have.”</p>
<p>Rio reached into the wine cooler she hadn’t seen earlier, that was fully stocked. “Got a couple of choices here.</p>
<p>“Is this part of our package?”</p>
<p>He gave a short nod. “Yeah, got a service to make sure we were fully stocked. Not like we can just run out for somethin’ we need.”</p>
<p>By the time they had their lunch outside, Beth was feeling a little tipsy and much more relaxed. Still, the idea of spending another 13 days in the house was daunting. Rio seemed content just to study her, while she closed her eyes in the sunshine.</p>
<p>“You stay out here much longer you’re gonna burn, Mama. Not that I don’t love to see your pink skin, but its too early for you to be hurtin’.”</p>
<p>Beth opened her eyes and peeked at a shoulder before sighing. “You’re right, never been able to just enjoy the sunshine.” She grabbed their plates as she got up. “Your skin just soaks up the sun, mine leaves blisters.” </p>
<p>She wasn’t surprised that he followed her inside, helping as they loaded the dishwasher, and cleaned up the kitchen.  But they were quickly done and sitting on the couch again.</p>
<p>“I never thought about how boring quarantine was, especially without kids around to keep me busy.” Beth grumbled.</p>
<p>“That’s what keeps you from noticing we don’t leave our homes anymore? I kinda envy you.”</p>
<p>“Boland Bubbles keeps me busy too. But yeah, the kids are an easy way not to think about what’s going on in the world. The virus, the protests, the virus, the president. I don’t want to think about those things, I know I should. But, it’s uncomfortable, and then I feel bad that I’m uncomfortable. It's just, easier.” </p>
<p>“You ain’t the type to put your head in the sand. I know you’ve stood up for your girl, and you see the shit she’s gone through. An’ were you out there with the kids, at a protest?”</p>
<p>Beth groaned. “I don’t mean I don’t care, or that I don’t understand that, and it’s that ….” Her voice faded off.</p>
<p>“It’s a lot Ma, no doubt. But you’re showin’ the kids the right message, but you need to take care of yourself too. Maybe look at this quarantine as a chance to actually relax.”</p>
<p>Thinking about it, Beth shrugged. “I can try. Let’s watch a movie.”</p>
<p>Putting on John Wick, Beth made it through the first twenty minutes before she fell asleep. A crack of lightning woke her up. Rio was asleep next to her. The thunder rolled and she watched him flinch and groan in his sleep. He had his head on the arm rest. Standing up, she moved his legs gently so that he could stretch out. Another crack of lightning caused him to jerk awake.</p>
<p>“Hey, hey, it’s just me, you’re ok, it’s a thunderstorm. We’re in Canada." Out of habit, she reached over and brushed his forehead, to try and bring him back to reality.”</p>
<p>Rio grabbed her hand as he blinked at her not speaking. It seemed like he was slowly pulling himself out of sleep, but he was still breathing hard. A minute later he was able to sit up and rub his eyes.</p>
<p>Beth didn’t want to say anything, but Rio gave her a sardonic smile. “I’ve always hated storms, an’ after, let’s just say, me an’ unexpected loud noises aren’t friends.</p>
<p>Nodding, Beth sat on the edge of the couch. “Well, we slept most of the afternoon, which is new for me. I think we should probably eat again. Are you hungry?”</p>
<p>Rio was clearly still cloudy, because he didn’t respond right away to her question. She reached out and touched his shoulder lightly. “Rio?”</p>
<p>He shook his head, clearing the cobwebs. “Yeah, let's order Chinese or somethin’, ok. Not up for cookin’.”</p>
<p>Beth found a drawer full of take out menus the hosts must have kept for guests, and brought them to the living room. Handing half to Rio, and perusing the other half herself.</p>
<p>“We don’t have to get Chinese, apparently everything in Toronto delivers. You like sushi right?” she suggested.</p>
<p>“Nah, we had fish for lunch. You like French food?” He waved a menu at her. “This looks pretty good.”</p>
<p>Taking the menu from him Beth looked it over, naturally it was nothing like the burgers and fries she had been thinking about, and very expensive. Still, this was the time to splurge.</p>
<p>“I’ve never had roast duck.” She admitted. </p>
<p>“Alright then, we’ll get some of them oysters, the duck, and I’m going for the steak frites. You wanna call that order in? I’m gonna take a shower.”</p>
<p>Nodding, Beth reached for her phone to put in the order, as she watched Rio go up the stairs. She had never seen him out of sorts, the storm continued outside. </p>
<p>Upstairs Rio stood under the hot shower willing his heart rate to slow. Even as a kid he had hated storms, but after the shooting that crack of lightning really got to him. </p>
<p>PTSD was the diagnosis the therapist gave him. Not that he was going to admit to anyone he was getting it. Rhea had insisted, saying he was more squirrley than usual. She also didn’t want him having a panic attack around Marcus.</p>
<p>By the time he got out, he was feeling more pulled together. He pulled on sweats and a t-shirt before coming downstairs.</p>
<p>He found Beth on the couch watching the rain out of the window. Hearing him approach, she turned to look at him. “Dinner is all ordered. I added some bread too, thought it would fit the mood. Should be here in about thirty minutes”</p>
<p>“Sound’s good Ma, sorry about earlier.”</p>
<p>Beth frowned. “Why are you apologizing? We’re all fucked up one way or another. Jane hates storms too, she’ll be thrilled to share that with you.”</p>
<p>“Don’t be tellin’ lil bit my business.”</p>
<p>She shrugged “Fine, tell her yourself, next time she wakes up screaming.”</p>
<p>Rio rolled his eyes at her as he sat down. “Maybe I will, if I’m around.”</p>
<p>“Whose question is it?” Beth asked with a teasing smile. Shaking his head, Rio shrugged. “You go ahead, I can see you’re dying to ask me somethin’.”</p>
<p>Taking the offer, Beth studied his face “Where did you go to university?” She watched as his easy going face shuttered closed and his eyes went hard.</p>
<p>“What makes you think I went to university?”</p>
<p>Beth gave him an expectant look that she used on the kids when something wasn’t going to work. He worked his jaw a couple of times, before he sighed and leaned back into the couch.</p>
<p>“University of Miami, majored in business. What about you?”</p>
<p>Beth sighed, knowing the question was fair. “Wayne State, business too, I had to fight to graduate. Dean didn’t think I needed a degree, since I was going to be a stay at home mother. I did some book keeping until we had Kenny.”</p>
<p>“So, that’s how you were able to come up with such strong profit margins so quickly. Not many take to it so fast.”</p>
<p>“You wondered how some suburban bitch figured things out?”</p>
<p>“Until you left those pearls, I didn’t wonder anythin’ about you. You were just a mule.”</p>
<p>“Are we keeping this place after quarantining, or moving somewhere?”</p>
<p>Rio looked around the town house. “I’d prefer bein’ closer to the expo, in case we need an alibi.”</p>
<p>Beth nodded “Sounds good, it will be nice to sightsee too, if you’re into that.” her eyes flicked over to see his reaction.</p>
<p>“My turn, why’d you kick me outta your bed like that?”</p>
<p>The question caused Beth’s breath to catch. “Dean had taken the kids away. Said if I didn’t stop crime, I'd never see them again. I wanted something good to remind me, something nice to lose myself in. To reduce the misery of being with him.”</p>
<p>“An’ you didn’t think I could handle that?”</p>
<p>Allowing him the follow up question Beth answered. “I didn’t want him dead, I wanted not to be with him. I wasn’t thinking clearly. Now that I know about Michigcan adultery laws, I probably would have acted differently. I told you, I regret it.” she admitted.</p>
<p>“Was I really just work?”</p>
<p>Rio snorted. “What do you think? </p>
<p>“I think I want an answer.”</p>
<p>“You’ve never been, just work. I shoulda’ killed you when you stole the money. The minute I didn’t,you stopped bein’ work. Couldn’t quite figure you out, then those pearls. You kept bein’ interestin’.”</p>
<p>Beth preened a little. “I liked it, I guess I like that you listen to me. That you don’t think my ideas are stupid. I’m never going to like to be told to stay in my lane though.” She told him pointedly.</p>
<p>That made Rio laugh out loud. “Yeah, you tend to lash out when you’re not happy. Before you met me, were you this vindictive?”</p>
<p>Laughing, Beth nodded. “I might have a reputation in the PTA, when crossed.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, you got all those bitches cowed.”</p>
<p>“I used to, they kind of steamrolled me after stuff went down with us. I lost my mojo when I shot you, apparently.”</p>
<p>He scooted closer. “You lost your mojo because of me?”</p>
<p>Giving him a frown and side eye, Beth shrugged, “Guilt of shooting you killed my mojo. But, it came back.”</p>
<p>“Before or after my return from the dead?”</p>
<p>The doorbell rang before she could respond, and Beth got up to answer the door. She took the bags to the kitchen.</p>
<p>“You ain’t gonna answer, Ma?”</p>
<p>“Nope, I’m going to set up dinner. Cabernet ok with you?”</p>
<p>Sensing she wasn’t playing anymore, Rio nodded and helped take the dishes to the table. </p>
<p>“Ok, first the oysters.” He pulled shot glasses out of the cabinet, putting an oyster into the glass and added the cocktail sauce, handing one to her.</p>
<p>“Trying to seduce me?”</p>
<p>“Mebbe loosen you up, but you an’ I have never had an issue with chemistry. Don’t think you need to be seduced.”</p>
<p>Knowing he had a point, Beth took the glass, shooting the oyster, giving him a smile. </p>
<p>“There are cooking instructions for the duck and the steak, and reheating for the rest. You want to use the grill or is the cast iron ok?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, that’s fine, just need to sear the duck, an’ it don’t take long to cook a steak.”</p>
<p>They continued with the oysters, as the duck and steak cooked. Beth sure wasn’t if she really believed in the aphrodisiac properties, or if it was just their natural chemistry rearing its head. She had to admit, it was one of the nicest non date nights she had ever been on. The wine flowed like the conversation, and they soon found themselves out on the back patio,enjoying the cool, summer night. </p>
<p>They had connected to the bluetooth speaker and had some light music. A familiar tune came on and Rio stood up offering Beth his hand. “Dance with me?”</p>
<p>“Dance?”</p>
<p>“Yeah dance, seen you dancing around a lot of times. So, I know you like it. So, dance with me.”</p>
<p>Taking his hand, they danced in silence. Beth’s mind tried to make sense of where they were. Louis Armstrong sang about a Wonderful World, something she almost found ironic.</p>
<p>When the song ended, she pulled away slightly. “What are we doing? Is this just being here together?”</p>
<p>Rio frowned, lightly cocking his head to study her face. “We can’t go back, but maybe we can move forward. Try not killin’ each other, for a while.”</p>
<p>She ducked her head, blushing. “I think that would be a good place. I never wanted to kill you, deep down, I just didn’t want you to kill me. So, if we’re sure we don’t want each other dead. I’d really like that.”</p>
<p>He lightly kissed her forehead. “You should go to bed. We can clean up in the morning, not like we have to be anywhere. No kids to chase.”</p>
<p>A yawn over took Beth, and she nodded. “I guess you’re right. The food and wine must have been what I needed.”</p>
<p>Beth walked upstairs alone, Rio had remained outside. He sat there listening to the sound of the city, so different from being in Detroit. In some ways, it helped him think clearly. There was no way to be distracted by business. Mick sent updates, Rhea had Marcus. All he had was time.</p>
<p>Rio wondered how their new truce was going to go. At least now, their intentions were clear. The chemistry acknowledged. He knew they could be something together. Elizabeth didn’t even know what kind of potential she had in their world. If she’d actually let him guide her. Granted, he could admit he hadn’t actually been that helpful, the first time around. This time could be different.</p>
<p>Picking up their glasses, Rio took the time to clean up the kitchen. Checking in on Elizabeth, before going to his own room.  He rubbed his face before going to bed himself.</p>
<p>The next morning, he woke to the smell of coffee and  pancakes. He was surprised to see that he had slept in for the first time in years. Coming downstairs, he watched Elizabeth sprinkle blueberries on top. “Those them pancakes we screwed on, at your table darlin’?”</p>
<p>Beth startled slightly, but laughed. “I’m certain I told Agent Turner it was the kids leftover pancakes. But other than that yes, this is that iconic meal. Kettle’s hot, if you want some tea.”</p>
<p>“You plannin’ on takin’ me on the table then?”</p>
<p>Raising an amused eyebrow, Beth shook her head. “Not on leftover breakfast. I might be up on my yoga, but that sounds very uncomfortable, especially since we wouldn’t have to rush. There must be softer surfaces here.”</p>
<p>Her response made him laugh out loud. “Fair enough. I’ve been dying to try these, once Turner told me about our adventure.”</p>
<p>“Eat up, they’re not as good cold.”</p>
<p>For once, he didn’t argue and tucked in eagerly, while Beth sipped her coffee quietly.</p>
<p>“Whatcha thinkin’ Mama? I get a little nervous when you’re quiet.” Rio asked, as he leaned back in his chair, watching her.</p>
<p>“Just thinking about our new alliance. That’s all. How we’re going to portray that, at the meeting. We don’t have the best history.”</p>
<p>“I think we do. We both know that we’re dangerous, and accept that. Now, they all know you’re as dangerous as I am.  We’re stronger together.” he told her with a smirk.</p>
<p>Beth had to admit, Rio had a point. They had paid their dues, so to speak. They settled into the house, just enjoying the quiet. Rio had golf on the tv, while Beth read the novel she had been saving for the trip. It was practically domestic until the knock on the door.</p>
<p>Rio frowned as he stood up. “You order somethin’ when I wasn’t payin’ attention?”</p>
<p>Beth rolled her eyes at him. “You know I didn’t.” A firmer knock made her eyes go wide.</p>
<p>“Stay here Ma, go up an’ get your gun.” </p>
<p>As he headed to the door, she headed up the stairs, but a proper English voice stopped her in her tracks. At the door stood a tall, lean man with dark hair. He was probably an inch or two taller than Rio</p>
<p>“I wouldn't move darling, or your lovely boy toy here, is going to find a new hole in his head.”</p>
<p>She had never seen Rio look wrong footed. He walked backwards from the door, with a revolver pressed against his head. Beth knew he could easily get himself out of it, and wondered why he hadn’t.</p>
<p>“Why don’t we all take a seat, and we’ll discuss a proposition.”</p>
<p>“We weren’t meetin’ until after we’re out of quarantine.”</p>
<p>“Things change, and I have a side issue I need your help with.”</p>
<p>Beth walked down the stairs, joining Rio on the couch, while the other man held a gun on him. Rio looked more amused than anything else, which helped her relax.</p>
<p>“So, how can we help you, an’ why shouldn’t I bring this up to your boss?”</p>
<p>“This has nothing to with Mr. Romano, this would be a personal favour.”</p>
<p>“A favour you’re asking for, with a gun in my face?" Rio asked sarcastically.</p>
<p>“Actually, I’m not asking the favour from you, you're the motivation for the favour.”</p>
<p>That did not sound like a good thing. “So, let’s go slip your shoes on, and it will be over soon. The man told them with a toothy smile.</p>
<p>“Not gonna let us get dressed first?” commented Rio drily.</p>
<p>“I’m a desperate man, not a stupid one. I’ll have things delivered once we’re at the site. Come along now.” He waved the gun at them, to shoo them out the door.</p>
<p>They were ushered into a dark town car. The man seemed rather relaxed, considering they were in the middle of a kidnapping. Beth’s eyes glanced over at Rio, who was gnashing his jaw. His amusement was long gone, and he was headed to sincerely annoyed. If he didn’t get answers soon, she knew there was going to be an explosion.</p>
<p>The driver knew where they were going in advance, and drove without instruction. They drove in silence for nearly an hour. They eventually pulled into a warehouse district, somewhere in Toronto.</p>
<p>“And, here we are. Things should be resolved quickly now, perhaps I can even sweeten the deal. You won’t even have to mention this to Romano.”</p>
<p>Rio gave him a filthy look. A look that screamed it wasn’t going to happen. But, he remained quiet as they walked into the warehouse.</p>
<p>Inside, the warehouse looked like a full medical lab. It was cold as well, Beth noticed, as she shivered. It was dark, and blue lit. She could see a man and a woman reading something on a screen.</p>
<p>“Doctor! Detective! I’ve brought you a gift, to incentivize you. To help me to find out what happened to my niece.”</p>
<p>The woman turned, scowling. “There is nothing you could offer me to…Marcos? What are you doing here?”</p>
<p>Rio froze, and Beth watched a flicker of something cross his face, fear or shame, or some of both combined. </p>
<p>“Rio? Who is that?”</p>
<p>He couldn’t even answer, just stared at the woman.</p>
<p>“I have returned your prodigal brother, isn’t that a good reason to help me?” Charleston asked.</p>
<p>The tall black man who stood next to the woman, Rio’s sister, said nothing, but gave Rio a death stare.</p>
<p>“Alright, I have no idea what’s going on here, and why you felt a family reunion would help your cause. As you can clearly see, they’re not happy to see each other.” Beth started.</p>
<p> Rio grabbed her wrist and squeezed lightly, so she continued carefully.</p>
<p>“Now, perhaps we can work out a deal. But we’re going to really need to know what’s going on here,and what your ultimate goal is?” Beth asked.</p>
<p>The tall man frowned. This wasn’t going the way he hoped. Usually he could charm the birds from the trees,but that was clearly not the case here. The red headed woman seemed to be the most reasonable.</p>
<p>“Right then, my name is Charleston. I’m the consigliarie for the Romano family, who you two are meeting with next week. I had run into Detective Villa and Dr Rosewood, who are here on holiday. I needed their help, unfortunately, they were less than interested.”</p>
<p>“It was an accidental death, I did look at the report!” Annaliese interrupted him. </p>
<p>Charleston rolled his eyes, and waved her away.</p>
<p>“I want to be certain! I have enemies.”</p>
<p>“We all have enemies in our business, why’d you bring my sister into this?” Rio finally spoke, face blank but eyes furious.</p>
<p>“You went away, she's been low key searching for you since you vanished, six years ago.” Charelston informed him, in a teasing voice.</p>
<p>Rio clenched his teeth so hard, Beth could have sworn she heard his jaw crack. His eyes flickered over to the other two people.</p>
<p>“An’ I stayed gone for a reason. So far, you haven’t given me a good reason not to bring Romano into this, settle things the easy way.”</p>
<p>The charm fell off Charleston like a cloak. “You can’t possibly think that he’d choose you over me, in all these years. I could have gone to him. But why use a hammer, when there is a skillful scalpel in town.” Charleston responded darkly.</p>
<p>Rio knew he was right. Romano had no stake in this game, but would happily start up chaos to help Charleston out. The city of Toronto should probably be grateful.</p>
<p>“A’ight, a’ight! Why don’t you go over there in the corner, an’ let the four of us talk this through.”</p>
<p>With a dramatic shrug, he swanned over to a far corner. Rio moved closer to Analise. Beth had never seen him so cautious.</p>
<p>“Long time Lise, you’re lookin’ good. See you’re still with the good doc here.” he told her, with a faux carelessness in his voice.</p>
<p>“No, you don’t get to act like nothing happened! You destroyed Mom, nearly ruined my career and dropped off the face of the Earth! We mourned you!” Analise cried at him.</p>
<p>Analise turned away, laying a hand on the doctor’s shoulder.</p>
<p>Rio or Marcos, didn’t have an answer; he just stood there, frozen. Torn between one life and the other, so Beth stepped in.</p>
<p>“Clearly, you all have issues, but we have a bigger problem. Our host wants to know what happened to his niece. We’re here on business, and I’m sure you want to get back to your vacation. So, if we can put the coming bloodshed on hold, until we know what we’re going to do, that’d be great.”</p>
<p>Rosewood sighed. “Well, he did go out of his way to provide me with everything Magic City has to offer. So, if we can get TMI and Pippy on the phone, this is a doable investigation.”</p>
<p>Muttering under her breath. Analise turned her back to them, and started the connection to the Miami lab.</p>
<p>With the other two distracted, Beth turned to Rio. “I know that you don’t want to answer a bunch of questions. Regardless of how fucked up this situation is, I have to know you can deal with this.”</p>
<p>Rio looked at her, blinking slowly. Like he wasn’t sure this wasn’t some wacked out dream he needed to shake out of.</p>
<p>“Yeah, darlin’, I got this, unfortunately. I’m goin’ settle up with Charleston real quick, I’ll be back in a minute.” He glanced briefly to Analise, before walking over to Charleston. Leaving Beth standing between the two. Analise took the chance to move on Beth.</p>
<p>“What are you doing with my brother?”</p>
<p>“What does it matter? That’s not the issue right now.” Beth stared at her with PTA Bitch written all over her face. Inside her mind, she was running a mile a minute, trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle together.</p>
<p>Taking a deep breath, Analise tried to calm herself. “Ok, let’s try this again. What is going on? Where has Marcos been?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know any Marcos. I can tell you that Rio has been in Detroit, and I don’t know for how long.”</p>
<p>Letting out a little growl, Analise turned away from Beth.</p>
<p>“Hey, Villa, she’s not a suspect and you’re not in an interrogation room. So why don’t we take it down a notch, and work on what’s on the table. Because what I’m seein’ here, is looking kind of suspicious.” Rosie called to get her attention, and to divert her from the source of her ire.</p>
<p>“Great, why couldn’t it be a simple hit and run? Why is it never a simple hit and run?”</p>
<p>“Calm down Villa, I’m sure our host has ways to deal with this, we're just providing the evidence.” </p>
<p>Before Villa could respond, two women popped up on the screen.</p>
<p>“Umm, big brother, why are you in a mockup of our lab?” Pippy asked.</p>
<p>“Not the time Pip, we have a murderer to uncover.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the far corner Rio and Charleston talked. “If this shit ruins my deal with Romano, he ain’t gonna find your body. You had no right bringin’ my sister into this shit.”</p>
<p>“It’s not my fault, she's the paramour of the premier pathologist who happens to be visiting Toronto this week. It’s not a secret, she’s been looking for you.”</p>
<p>Rio scowled, it wasn’t surprising that Lise had been searching for him. Even without the robbery, she wouldn't have ever accepted him just vanishing. Only the Romanos would have the kind of clout,   to put him and Lise together. Having these two worlds collide was probably the worst thing to happen right now.</p>
<p>Sensing from Rio’s look that he needed more soothing, Charleston added. “Your agreement with Romano will go through. In fact, I’ll make the suggestion that the shipment heads out so your sister won’t hear of it.”</p>
<p>Giving the taller man a tight nod, Rio rolled his neck. “An’ order us some proper clothes. I feel ridiculous.”</p>
<p>Joining Beth, he nudged her gently, “They come up with anything?”</p>
<p>“Sounded like something, all medical talk and computers.” Rio nodded as he had seen it first hand before.</p>
<p>“She’s really your sister?” Beth asked cautiously.</p>
<p>“Yeah, we have some issues though. Haven’t seen eye to eye in a long time.” he told her shortly. She took that to mean not to ask anymore questions.</p>
<p>Charleston returned with clothes for him. It was almost a comfort to see Rio back in his basic black, it seemed to her that he wore it like armour. Beth knew she felt better mirroring his style, this time around.</p>
<p>As they got closer to the lab area, Villa turned around and rolled her eyes.  “What are you Mr. and Mrs Crime now?” Then she blanched. “ Wait, you two aren’t married, are you?”</p>
<p>Rio and Beth turned and looked at each other before looking back at Villa. “It’s complicated,” Rio told her as Beth flushed.</p>
<p>“Complicated? You vanished six years ago and magically popped up with a random woman.” Villa screamed. Beth squeaked at being called a random woman.</p>
<p>“Next thing you’ll tell me is that you have kids!”</p>
<p>“Well, a kid and yeah. I didn’t want to be found. Lise, don’t be surprised, you don’t know what’s in my life, that’s nothin’ new.”</p>
<p>Villa looked like she wanted to say something back, when Rosie laid his hand on her shoulder. “Why don’t we discuss what we’ve found so far, get things moving.“ Beth had noticed that the doctor had not addressed Rio since they had come into the warehouse, and that Rio wouldn’t look at him either. </p>
<p>Taking a deep breath, Beth realized it would probably be best if she ran the meeting, so to speak.</p>
<p>“Alright, what have you found? Other than it wasn't an accident, that is?” Taking her lead, Rosie took over the conversation.</p>
<p>“I’ll admit, they made it look really good. But, we have found an injection site at the back of her neck, suggesting she was drugged and then thrown in front of the car. That demonstrates intent to me. I’ll give you the documentation to give to the police, and they can take over from there.”</p>
<p>Charleston gave him an incredulous look. “Ah, ah, that’s not that simple. I need to know if it had something to do with my line of work, or something in her life. These things require different tactics.”</p>
<p>“No, you said find out if it was an accident or not, and you would let us go.” Villa told him with gritted teeth. She was way beyond wanting to be patient, maybe a little resentful. She hadn’t been able to bring her gun into the country with her, after all.</p>
<p>“A’ight what’s the new deal? Be very aware, I’m gonna take my pound of flesh for this.” Rio growled.</p>
<p>“The Villa siblings are so dramatic, I do love that about you two. Endless entertainment. Fine, your deal is done, at seventy/thirty for you. And for you, I’ll make sure your brother doesn’t end up dead.”</p>
<p>Rio chuckled, “Yeah, that ain’t gonna be an incentive for her. Soon as she knows where I’m at, she’ll be tryin’ to put me in jail.”</p>
<p>Analise went pale as her mouth hung open, “You really think that? I almost lost my career over you! And that was ok, because you were my baby brother!”</p>
<p>Beth had never witnessed Rio frozen, the look on his face suggested it had shorted out. She knew he would never want to be seen like that by anyone so she moved in front of him blocking their view.</p>
<p>“Rio?” He didn’t respond, she could barely tell he was breathing. Think, think this isn’t the time to lose your cool.  Then she remembered him being called Marcos.  “Marcos?” she whispered.</p>
<p>Rio’s eyes fluttered as he pulled himself together. “Yeah, I’m ok. Just, not how I wanted any of this to go down.”</p>
<p>“We do this, you’re going to forget my sister ever existed. Take her off every book there is. Her name never falls from your lips and if your niece’s death is separate from you, you let the law handle it.” Rio glanced over at Charleston.</p>
<p>Charleston gave Rio a tight lipped nod. Looking over Beth’s shoulder, he addressed Rosie for the first time.</p>
<p>“Yo Rosie, tell the man what you’re gonna need.”</p>
<p>Rosie glared, but rattled off a list of things while one of Charleston's men took notes.</p>
<p>“So, this is going to take a little longer. Why don't I get you over to your new accommodations,at the Continental, where you can relax.”</p>
<p>Rio/Marcos, Beth wasn’t sure, gave Charleston an incredulous look. “You can’t bring them there. They’re not part of this.”</p>
<p>“Don’t worry my dear boy, I’ve made all the arrangements, and special permission has been given.”</p>
<p>Rio scowled. “Fine, but if anything happens to her…”</p>
<p>Beth was surprised as the differences in the way he spoke, became apparent. Like he wasn’t sure who he was in that moment. She wasn’t sure how he would react, but she gently ran her finger down the side of his face.</p>
<p>“It’s going to be fine, Rio.”</p>
<p>They drove in silence as they headed to the hotel. The silence continued until they were escorted onto a private floor, to two separate suites.</p>
<p>Once they were alone, things seemed to normalize a bit, and Rio loosened up a little. Beth went to the mini bar and pulled out Tequila and bourbon, pouring them each a glass.</p>
<p>“Drink, then we talk.”</p>
<p>Rio glared at her, but took the glass shooting the Tequila, Beth took the bottle and refilled both glasses.</p>
<p>“What was that?”</p>
<p>Rubbing his face roughly as he sighed. “That, was something I never wanted to ever happen. I guess I should just be grateful that it happened here, and not at home.”</p>
<p>He stood looking out the big window, onto the city. Rio/Marcos hadn’t been blindsided like this in a long time.</p>
<p>“Your name is Marcos, not Christopher, not Rio?” Beth asked dryly.</p>
<p>“Yeah, it was. Christopher is my middle name and Rio is who I am in this world. It ain’t too complicated.”</p>
<p>“Well, clearly, there are some complications. Your sister is pissed.”</p>
<p>“She’s got every right to be. Let’s just say, my entry into our world wasn’t as clean as yours."</p>
<p>Beth raised an eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure I burned down my whole world, doing this.”</p>
<p>“True, but the carman had already started a fire in your house, you just threw gasoline on it. I burned her badly. She caught me and let me go, knowing it would fuck her over in the long run. Hurting her, is probably one of the few things I’ve regretted in my life.”</p>
<p>Joining him at the window, they looked down at what seemed to be a happy, busy city. Completely unaware of the dangers right in front of them.</p>
<p>“What are we going to do then?” Beth asked gently.</p>
<p>“We?“</p>
<p>She rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yes, we. Isn’t that what we agreed to? A united front, full alliance? You deal with my sister, I can deal with yours.”</p>
<p>Rio gave her a slight smile, as he took another swallow of his Tequila. "Alright, we.”</p>
<p>In the other suite, Rosie sat on the couch as he watched Analise rail at the world. He was waiting on her to lose some steam, before he tried to smooth things out. He hadn’t been happy to see Marcos in general. But, he knew that for Analise, seeing her brother alive, was a relief. It had been hard to pick up the pieces, after the robbery had gone down.</p>
<p>Analise had gone to LA. The only change in the plan was Adrian had stayed behind to work the main lab with Mitchie, TMI, and Pippy. LA was a great start for the both of them, away from where it fell apart. Analise worked as investigator for the DA, and Magic City continued it’s magic. Now, Marcos was back, and he hoped it wouldn’t mean more tears.</p>
<p>“Detroit! He’s been in fucking Detroit! Doing god knows what, with that woman and their kid. They have a kid. I have a nephew, how did this happen?”</p>
<p>“Villa, it’s been six years. Things happen. We don’t know anything more than that.”</p>
<p>Rio and Beth sat on the couch, their belongings had been brought over from the airbnb. She was grateful to have her laptop back. It was a quick Skype to the kids, before she insisted that they order room service.</p>
<p>“Are you up to talking about who you used to be?”</p>
<p>“Don’t really want to. That life ain’t around anymore. He’s not around anymore.”</p>
<p>“But you named your son Marcus.That’s telling.” Beth told him pointedly.</p>
<p>“You might be right. Rhea doesn't even know about what happened when I was back in Miami. I arrived hot in Detroit with the right connections, and kept growing a kingdom of my own. Can you imagine if it got around? That I was the brother of a cop and a former Marine .”</p>
<p>Beth grimaced. “Either everyone comes after you, or they fear you even more. And you prefer being a mystery.”</p>
<p>“Somethin’ like that. So, now you know.”</p>
<p>“It doesn’t change anything other than make you a little more human. Still, Marcus happened before you changed. He would have been what, almost two when you showed up in Detroit?”</p>
<p>“There’s a reason I was given a dishonourable discharge, I have history of gettin’ into trouble, you know.”</p>
<p>“So, you didn’t go to high school with Rhea or know her from the old neighborhood. So, how did you really meet Rhea, in Detroit or in Miami?”</p>
<p>“Neither, she was a nurse. I met her in Afghanistan. Hooked up right before she got out. She found out Marcus was comin’ when she got home. He was the reason I set up shop in Detroit. Had to be close to my boy.”</p>
<p>That, she understood, his devotion to his son had never been questionable. “What are you going to do now? She’s got a rough idea of where to find you now. What do you think she’s going to do?”</p>
<p>Rio shrugged. “Dunno. She seemed surprised that I’d think she’d turn on me, an’ maybe I’m wrong to think she would.”</p>
<p>“She knows about Marcus now, might be hard to keep her away.”</p>
<p>“I’m pretty sure she thinks you’re his mother.” He told her with a half smile.</p>
<p>“Rhea would love that news. Although, she has reduced the chill towards me.”</p>
<p>“Give her a year or two to get used to it, an’ you’ll be fine.”</p>
<p>Beth snorted. “Let’s just get through this school year, and see where we stand.”</p>
<p>A knock at the door caught their attention, and Rio, carefully went to the door. “Yeah?”</p>
<p>“Room service, sir.”</p>
<p>He opened the door and the waiter pushed in a cart. Theoretically, the Continental was neutral ground, but he knew not to take it for granted. After the waiter set up their table and left, Beth poured them each another drink and sat down. Their meal lacked the easy going atmosphere they had at the airbnb. They were both listless, lost in their own thoughts.</p>
<p>Another knock on the door had Rio going off like a rocket. “Who is it?”</p>
<p>“It’s me, Marcos, let us in.”</p>
<p>He glanced at Beth, who nodded as he opened the door to let Analise and Rosie in.</p>
<p>Analise looked uncomfortable, and Rosie was tense.</p>
<p>“So you’re in, what do you want?”</p>
<p>Rio glared at his sister, who just glared back. “I want to know what we’re involved with, and how you think we’re going to get to the bottom of it, Marcos.”</p>
<p>“What did you find out from the blood work?”</p>
<p>Rosie took over the conversation, explaining that Sienna had been given a high dose of rohypnol, shortly before her death. She would have never even felt the car hitting her.”</p>
<p>“We should start by tracing her last days, and see what pops up?” Beth suggested, causing both siblings to stare at her.  “What? I have basic, investigative skills.”</p>
<p>“She’s right.” Analise admitted. “Can Charleston get us her calendar or something?”</p>
<p>“He should be able to. He really was very fond of her.” Rio sighed, as he pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Charleston. The response was almost instantaneous. “He’s having her laptop and phone brought over right away. We can either start today or tomorrow.” he told them.</p>
<p>“Can we talk before it gets here?” Analise asked.”</p>
<p>“What do you want me to say Analise! I made a choice! It wasn’t the one you wanted but I…I don’t have an answer for you.”</p>
<p>“That’s some tattoo you’ve got there. Very distinctive. I’m sure it makes quite an impression in your line of work.” she told him drily.</p>
<p>Beth could feel Rio start to bristle. “How about we don’t deal with the past. Nothing is going to be resolved in a day, and we have more pressing matters.”</p>
<p>“Who asked you? This is between me and my brother!”</p>
<p>Rio glared at Analise. “She’s my partner, so yeah it concerns her too.”</p>
<p>If Beth needed confirmation of their alliance, she had it now. “All I’m saying is that we deal with what we can do something about.”</p>
<p>Rosie nodded. “The lady in black is right, whose name we still don’t know.” he said pointedly.</p>
<p>“I’m Beth.” she responded. </p>
<p>At the same time as Rio told him “Her name is, Elizabeth.”</p>
<p>“I go by both.” Beth clarified giving Rio a look, but he had turned away to look back out of the window.</p>
<p>Taking the attention off of Rio was key right now, so Beth plastered on her best smile. “Look, I get it. I have a younger sister myself, who has done a whole lot I want to kill her for, but how about we try to help someone else’s sister. So they can at least have some closure.” She suggested gently.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Beth here is right. Let’s go over the calendar and laptop, see where it sends us” Rosie suggested with faux brightness.</p>
<p>After about twenty minutes of uncomfortable silence, there was a knock at the door that Beth was grateful to go answer. The courier handed her the laptop and phone and she gave him a grateful smile.</p>
<p>“Here we go, Rio, did Charelston give you an idea of passwords or anything?”</p>
<p>Rio shot off a couple of texts and received one a couple minutes later. “Yeah, here you go.”</p>
<p>Villa and Rosie took the laptop while Beth and Rio took the phone up to  the bedroom. They both needed a break.</p>
<p>Turning to Rio, Beth studied his face. He didn’t quite look like who she knew, but maybe she was seeing who he used to be.</p>
<p>“Can you pull your head back into the game?” She asked gently.  </p>
<p>Rio rubbed his face as he sighed. “Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine.” He growled. “Don’t worry about me Mami, we’ll be done with this soon. An’ apparently we’ll have the rest of the week for ourselves.” He gave her a filthy look, reminding her of the Rio she knew.</p>
<p>“A week would be enough to solidify our new alliance, and work out any kinks in the relationship.” Beth teased. “It’s amazing how you do that; switch back and forth from Rio to Marcos. When you’re alone, are you something in between?”</p>
<p>Rio shrugged. “Don’t know. I am who I am in the moment. Mostly, I don’t think about him. He made a lot of mistakes, and had a lot of rotten eggs to clean up.”</p>
<p>“Right, well let's get into the phone and see what this girl has been up to.” Beth decided.</p>
<p>Sienna turned out to be a vivacious, exciting, young woman, who had this zest for life; that made Beth cry silently. This girl had never known about her uncle’s violent life, and she could understand his grief for her loss. They had been very close, with Charleston doting on her practically since her birth. She had a sense that the world had really lost a good soul, with Sienna’s passing.</p>
<p>“Looks like she had lunch with Charleston that day, before that, she had a meeting with her boss at the tech company she worked at. I think she was a very talented programmer. She then had an appointment, with I think it’s her broker. Who has a broker at twenty two?”</p>
<p>“The niece of a man who has millions.” Rio told her dryly. “I imagine that Charleston has been preparing her future since the day she was born. This ain’t a girl who had to work. She wanted to work, and loved what she did.”</p>
<p>“I think she was a pretty, sweet girl and I want to find out who killed her. “ Beth told him.</p>
<p>Rio nodded, he understood Charleston’s rage. Other than not wanting to be pulled into this shit, if it had been one of the kids, he’d burn the world to catch the person responsible. “Yeah, me too Mama, she didn’t deserve this.”</p>
<p>Looking at the door, Beth smiled.” Are you ready to go out and deal with them.”</p>
<p>“I don’t’ wanna, but it’s the only way out of the suite, so yeah, let’s do this.” He walked to the door, ready to open it. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door to join Analise and Rosie in the living room. </p>
<p>The other pair looked up from the laptop, clearly they had been moved by learning about the dead girl.</p>
<p>“She had a meeting with her broker. Why don’t we start there?” he told them. There were some logistic issues though. Analise didn’t want Beth and Rio wandering off by themselves so to speak. There was no way Beth and Rosie were letting Marcos and Analise be alone together. So, Beth found herself in a Lyft, playing with the edge of the seat, working up the nerve to say something, but Analise saved her the effort.</p>
<p>“He never told you about me?” she asked.</p>
<p>Beth couldn’t help but snort at the idea of Rio telling her much. “Umm, Rio doesn’t say much of anything, to anyone. Which is why we keep trying to kill each other.” Beth told her sarcastically.</p>
<p>“I’m not sure you’re being facetious or not.” Analise told her with a wry smile.</p>
<p>Beth shrugged rather than answer.</p>
<p>“You didn’t even know his name was Marcos, you called him Rio and Christopher?”</p>
<p>“Those are the names I use for him, yes. But then, he doesn’t call me by my name either. I'm always Elizabeth to him. We’re complicated that way.”</p>
<p>“You’re certainly not who I thought would end up with Marcos, though. You’re what, my age?” She asked.</p>
<p>“Maybe. Like I said, he’s never talked about his life before Detroit, and I’ve never asked. We both had major life changes to work through.”</p>
<p>Analise smirked. “Yeah, I bet.”</p>
<p>Heading to the restaurant, Rosie and Marcos drove in chilly silence, that was clearly making Rosie fidgety.</p>
<p>“You know she’s happy to see you, right? That she worried every night about you?”</p>
<p>Rio or Marcos didn’t respond, and only looked pointedly out of the window. Leaving Miami the way he did. He had known he was burning down the bridge to his family, and had told himself he couldn't think about that anymore.</p>
<p>“Let’s just get this done. We don’t have anything else to talk about Rosie, it's the past and I ain’t goin’ back.” He muttered as they arrived at the restaurant.</p>
<p>As he got out, Rosie put his hand out to stop him. “You don’t really think this is the end of things, do you? Villa isn't going to let this go. Are you going to pack up your life again, in Detroit to keep her away?”</p>
<p>“I ain’t talkin’ about this now. Let’s get the details on the lunch, and get goin’.” Rio told him to push ahead into the restaurant.</p>
<p>At the brokerage, Beth and Villa were surprised that the broker was almost happy to speak with them. Sienna had been like a granddaughter to him. He admitted she had seemed shaken by the time her appointment had started.</p>
<p>“So, what do you think spooked her before her appointment?” Analise asked as they drove to the next stop on Sienna’s calendar, at her office. It was evident that they all felt the loss of Sienna, but told them when she came back from lunch she seemed frazzled, but determined, at her computer. They weren’t able to take the laptop,but Beth distracted the manager while Analise and Pippy downloaded it’s contents to Magic City computers.</p>
<p>Beth sent Rio a quick text, to let them know they were headed back to the hotel. His response was they were going somewhere to look at traffic cameras.</p>
<p>Tippy had a friend at Toronto PD who was low key, happy to help them with the traffic cams, with the promise that they would get credit for any possible arrest.</p>
<p>The drive to the police department was just as awkward. Rosie, not even trying to make conversation. Rio stared out the window, contemplating what he was going to do now. He didn’t want to pack up and leave Detroit. Rhea would never go for it, and then there was Beth. Their new alliance was important, and if he was willing to be honest more than work related.</p>
<p>Det. Amstead or Susie, was a former paramour of Tippy, who let them review Sienna’s movements after she left the broker's. There, they discovered she had been followed to her job and then grabbed at the subway station entrance, when it looked like she was headed home.</p>
<p>It was harder to trace her once she was grabbed. They hadn’t been able to find Sienna until she popped up at the location of the accident, where they watched her being physically thrown into a car. Even Rio who was used to brutality, winced.</p>
<p>Once they were all back at the hotel, all somberly, they sat in the living room. </p>
<p>“What do we know?” Rio asked gruffly.</p>
<p>Analise sighed. “Well, I was wrong, this certainly wasn’t an accident. Were you guys able to make out who grabbed her, from the recording?”</p>
<p>Rosie shook his head. “No, he kept his hood up. I’m hoping that Pippy was able to get something from that download we sent her.”</p>
<p>Beth’s laptop pinged, letting them know that someone was trying to reach her on Skype. Putting her finger to her lips she answered it, hoping it wasn’t one of the kids. They weren’t that lucky.</p>
<p>“Mommy!” Jane cried out happy to see her.</p>
<p>“Hey bubba, how are you?” Beth asked with a tight smile. “I wanted to show you the diorama that Marcus and I made!" Jane told her.</p>
<p>“Oh, wow honey, you two did a good job! Dinosaurs!”</p>
<p>Marcus entered the screen, with a toothy grin. “Do you like it? It was my idea to use pipe cleaners for the trees.” he told her. Rio moved in, so he could see the school project too. </p>
<p>“Woah pop, that looks great! Those trees look real.”</p>
<p>“Daddy are you having fun in Canada?” Rio looked up to see his sister and Rosie frozen. “Yeah, we’re learnin’ a lot about the new spas comin’ out. You’ll like it. We gotta go now, but we’ll call back before bedtime, ok?”</p>
<p>The kids said goodbye and disconnected, allowing both of them to let out deep sighs. Beth looked over at the other two people in the room.</p>
<p>“What? Kids take time, and you don’t know when they’re going to pop up.”</p>
<p>“Kids? You said you had a son. Marcos!”</p>
<p>“An’ I do. Elizabeth has her own kids too. They’re in a school pod right now, tryin’ to stay healthy. You do remember the pandemic, right?” He asked with a brittle tone.</p>
<p>For Analise, seeing Marcos switch into daddy mode was surreal. It was like the years fell off his face, and she saw the man she knew as her brother. It was cruel and absurd, that they had missed so much of each other’s lives.</p>
<p>Realizing it would be best to diffuse the situation before it grew more tense, Beth searched her brain for something to say, when Rosie’s laptop beeped, connecting them to the Miami lab.</p>
<p>“Hey, big brother! We have some interesting news for you. We went through the download and found a series of emails to the SEC from Sienna, they included a picture and recording. When she was at the brokerage, she apparently overheard insider trading, and took pictures of the broker and the person he was giving the information to. She was doing the right thing.” Pippy told them sadly.</p>
<p>“Alright, all solved, thanks Pip. Can you pull all the evidence together, and get it to your friend. She gets to pick up that trash. “</p>
<p>Rio pulled out his phone texting Charleston that they had news.</p>
<p>“So, that’s it?” Beth asked. She wasn’t used to being on this side of a crime, but it seemed much less complicated than crime.</p>
<p>“That’s it. By the time we update Charleston, the killer should have been picked up. He did say if it didn’t have anything to do with his line of work he’d stay out of it.” Rosie told her.</p>
<p>“Hopefully he’s a man of his dubious word.” Villa muttered.</p>
<p>“He ain’t gonna make waves. We don't like our business out in the open. “ Rio said under his breath.</p>
<p>“What? What was that?”</p>
<p>“Nothing Lise, he’ll do what he said. If you don't want to be here when we update him, that’s cool too. We can handle it from here.”</p>
<p>“Handle it? Marcos, when have you ever handled anything?” Analise nearly screeched.</p>
<p>“Things change Lise, you just wouldn’t like the way I handle things.”</p>
<p>Sensing that things were really going to blow up, Rosie practically dragged Analise back to their suite, while Rio and Beth sat on the couch exhausted</p>
<p>“Well, that was horrific.” Beth sighed. </p>
<p>“Yeah it was darlin’, an’ it wasn’t even our side of things. We do all we do, for those kids, and there are still other monsters to get them.” Rio breathed.</p>
<p>“So, our deal is done. And sure, we can check out a day of the expo. But are we going to do anything about your sister?”</p>
<p>“Dunno, I don’t think I can convince her that she didn’t really find me. She might not be a cop anymore. But, she’s an officer of the court, and she has an obligation to report me.”</p>
<p>“Do you really think she’s going to do that? She let you go the first time. Right now you’re not actively committing a crime, and there are no warrants out for us. I’m guessing something is up with your fingerprints, if your military history didn’t come up for the FBI.”</p>
<p>He nodded. “Yeah, a friend swapped Marcos’ prints with a friend who was MIA over in Afghanistan. I had a clean start, until someone got me arrested.” Rio told her with a scowl.</p>
<p>Beth had the decency to flush at his accusation. “Yeah, I’m sure that threw a kink in things for you.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, don’t worry about it, there was a powersurge at the police station before their routine upload to the database. They were lost in the data transfer. It’s all good, Mama.”</p>
<p>She leaned into him, closing her eyes. "It’s been a really long day you know. Why don’t we go lay down, after we update Charleston?”</p>
<p>“Sounds good Ma, I’m down for it.”</p>
<p>Charleston didn’t even knock, just swanned into the room as Beth and Rio looked on. “Well, you said you figured it out. I’m so glad you were able to work together, for Sienna.”</p>
<p>“She was a lovely girl. Loved by everyone, I can’t imagine your pain.” Beth told him sympathetically.</p>
<p>“Yes, she was. She was the light of my life, my one good thing I didn’t damage.” He told her ruefully.</p>
<p>“And you didn’t this time either. She discovered a crime and did the right thing, notifying and sending evidence to the police. She’s a hero. You did that. Helped raise her, to stand up to what she knew was wrong.” Beth told him with a sad smile.</p>
<p>“I take it you’ve already sent the evidence to the police.”</p>
<p>“We have, arrest should be in process right now. He’ll pay for what he did to her, and what he was doing to others.”</p>
<p>“I suppose he can always have an accident in prison.” Charleston mused mostly to himself.</p>
<p>“Yeah I don’t wanna know anythin’ about that, so you do you.” Rio told him firmly</p>
<p>“Your rooms have been paid through the next two weeks, so enjoy. Even the bar is on me. Enjoy Toronto.” He told them as he headed out the door.</p>
<p>“You still want that nap, Mama?” Rio asked, as he stood from the couch offering his hand to help her up.</p>
<p>“I do, I think a nap is exactly what we need to reset ourselves.”</p>
<p>Rio followed her into the bedroom, where she started to pull off her boots and pants. Charleston had been kind enough to pay for the extra service of unpacking and she found an oversized t-shirt to pull on.  He watched in fascination as she undressed and slipped into bed.</p>
<p>“What? It’s not like you haven't seen it before.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but you’re finally becomin’ you. Zero fucks, don’t need to be liked. It’s nice to see.”</p>
<p>“Just get into bed, we’ve had a very long day. We’re now out of quarantine, so we can go somewhere nice when we’re up.”</p>
<p>He responded by stripping off his own shirt and pants, and slid into the bed behind her. Breathing in the scent of her shampoo made him remember he had missed this.</p>
<p>“Go to sleep, I can hear your brain whirring from here.” Beth muttered as her eyes fluttered shut.</p>
<p>Not thirty minutes later there was banging on their door. Beth groaned as she rolled over to look at him.</p>
<p>“That’s all you. I don’t want to deal with your sister right now.”</p>
<p>“I deal with yours.” He told her with his eyes closed.</p>
<p>“Yes, you do, but I haven’t been missing for six years. Annie’s just crazy, Analise is angry.”</p>
<p>Rolling over, Rio sighed. “I don’t know what to tell her. I made choices, and I didn’t think about how it would affect her at all.  I was so angry back then.”</p>
<p>“And you think you're not angry now? You just push that anger into other things, like holding the reins to your kingdom so tight that it cuts into your hands. Not that I’m saying you’re doing it wrong. I know first hand what happens when you take your eyes off this business, and so do you.  I’m just saying the anger is still there; it just motivates you differently. You have Marcus, who taught you that you were still capable of loving someone else. You probably didn’t have that back then.”</p>
<p>Rio groaned. “Fine, but get dressed, we’ll go out for dinner afterwards.”</p>
<p>Beth listened from the bed, as she heard Rio answer the door. Their voices remained low and she couldn’t hear if Rosie was with them or not. Dressing again, she went with a little color and put on some make up, before walking down to see what the Villa siblings were doing. </p>
<p>She found the two of them sitting at the table, staring at each other. Frowning, Beth joined them.</p>
<p>“Can I assume you have not come to a resolution?”</p>
<p>Rio glared at her. “She wants me to call my mother.”</p>
<p>“She deserves to know her son isn’t dead!”</p>
<p>“If I call, she’s going to want to come see me!” he argued back.</p>
<p>“She has a grandson! Do you know how happy that would make her?”</p>
<p>Rio gave Analise a dead eyed stare. “Our mother is insane, and I am a gangster. Why would you want me to bring her into my life?”</p>
<p>“She put up with dad being a grifter, and you think she’d care that you run a gang? Compared to having a grandson?”</p>
<p>Beth had to admit that grandmothers overlooked a lot to be with their grandchild. Rio did keep Marcus insulated from what he did.</p>
<p>She cleared her throat, to let the siblings know she was still  in the room.</p>
<p>“Rio, you own several legit businesses. Why not just tell her that? I understand not wanting to put her in danger or let her see our side of things. But, Marcus could be benefitted by having a grandmother in his life.”</p>
<p>He seemed willing to consider that idea, and told Analise that.  The tension reduced, but Beth knew he was going to struggle between these two lives entangling. That would take time, but it seemed they might have that.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Epilogue:</p>
<p>Beth hadn’t seen Rio this uncomfortable since Annie had plopped herself down at the bar to tell him that since they were practically related, she should have an open tab at the bar. The whole flight to Miami, he had bounced his knee, and grumbled that they should have driven. She had then told him he’d be more annoyed driving six kids, and Annie for three days.</p>
<p>Since they had never been to Miami before, they had decided to make a vacation out of it. The boys had loved the speedboat adventures, and the girls had wanted to go to every animal attraction possible, but they limited it to the aquarium and Jungle Island. </p>
<p>Rio was grateful for the opportunity to show Marcus where he had grown up. To be able to do fun things they hadn’t been able to do when he was a kid. Little Havana had changed so much, there was a new life to the place that made him smile.</p>
<p>Getting there early, allowed them to plan for two days. For it to be just them, before they brought Daisy, Hornstock, Analise and Rosie into the picture. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to be walking into.</p>
<p>Pulling up to a restaurant in the old neighborhood, he could hear the music playing. With low lighting, he hoped that there would be a lot of other patrons. When they walked in, all the lights went on and a crowd yelled “Welcome back! ¡Dar una buena acogida!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>“¡Oh mi bebe! ¡Estás de vuelta! ¡Te extrañamos tanto! Y tu familia tan grande y tan...blanca.” Daisy yelled, as she wiggled herself forward. Rio smirked as he watched Analise rub her eyes in embarrassment.</p>
<p>“Hey ma, good to see you.” Was all he could get out before she hugged so tight he could barely breathe. </p>
<p>“ Y en donde esta mi nieto?”</p>
<p>Placing a hand on Marcus’ shoulder, he nodded. “Hey Marcus, this is your abuela.” Marcus gave her a shy smile, before Daisy enveloped him in a tight hug, that took his breath away.</p>
<p>“Eh ma! Don’t suffocate him, he'll warm up to you on his own.”</p>
<p>From there, they were pulled into the group and introduced around. The Bolands were accepted, with very few questions and Beth found herself surrounded by Rio’s family and friends. It was very loud, but a lot of fun. They ended up finally sitting in a corner, watching the kids eat and danced.</p>
<p>“You ok with being here?” Beth asked, as she nudged his shoulder. Rio was a little more relaxed, but on the edge.</p>
<p>“Guess I’m gonna have to be. What’s one more mask?”</p>
<p>“You know, you don’t have to wear one with me, right?”</p>
<p>“Well, you worked yourself in, under, and through them all, so don’t really got an option, do I?”</p>
<p>“Part of being an alliance. Always got your back.” she told him cheekily.</p>
<p>“Other than gettin’ me arrested, and shootin’ me?” he asked her dryly, but there was a soft smile on his face.</p>
<p>“The kids keep us honest.” Rio admitted. “They might turn on us, if we tried separating them.”</p>
<p>“Oh, they would for sure turn on us, and Jane is actually scary sometimes.” Beth agreed. This was their wildly weird life, that now included a cop and a pathologist that would have to keep their noses away from their business. Guess that was just part of having a new life.</p>
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